1st life build help?

[bruzer79]

Hi Guys,

Returning player, blah blah blah, havent played in cap was 14, blah blah blah...

All the past life stuff is super confusing to me right now, and not really applicable. Im starting over and I could really use a FvS build to get me going. Im having trouble finding anything specfically for 1st lifers.

Does it matter 1-20?

[Xgya]

Past life benefits are most useful at lower levels.

+9 damage might not be much at level 20, but at level 1? Huge.

Same goes for 30 HP.

Some of the stuff remains useful throughout, like spell pen and DCs, (or stats, with racials).
Some help with gearing (+3 to trapskills means needing less items as a trapper)

[Enguebert]

Hi Guys,

Returning player, blah blah blah, havent played in cap was 14, blah blah blah...

All the past life stuff is super confusing to me right now, and not really applicable. Im starting over and I could really use a FvS build to get me going. Im having trouble finding anything specfically for 1st lifers.

Does it matter 1-20?

Past life are not mandatory but if you have none, you should avoid
1) Reaper difficulty
2) Heroic dungeon on Elite published after U25 (ToEE) because they are way harder than older Elite dungeon of same level

But for going 1-20 should not be a problem whatever is your build, even if FvS is not one of the strongest class (because it is one of the class that hadn't a pass)

Decide if you want to be mainly spellcaster (that means AoV tree) or melee (War priest tree is not terrific,except ameliorating strike)
If you go melee, check deity weapons and choose race


If you plan to do 1-20 then TR, capstone is not important, so you can easily multiclass to have access to other tree
Splashing 2,3 or 6 levels of fighter or paladin or even bard can work fine for FvS melee

[unbongwah]

Im starting over and I could really use a FvS build to get me going. Im having trouble finding anything specfically for 1st lifers.
Probably because FvS hasn't gotten a lot of dev love in years, so they've gone neglected on the forums. :( The biggest changes was these additions in the last update:


Favored Souls now use their higher base ability score of Charisma or Wisdom for spellcasting. This includes DC and Spell Point calculations, Spell memorization, and checks to see if a spell can be cast.
Favored Soul Energy Resistance Feats are now Energy Absorption Feats
Favored Souls will now select one of the following Feats at class level 2:

Grace of Battle (http://ddowiki.com/edit/Grace_of_Battle?redlink=1): Your faith allows you to use your Charisma bonus for to-hit and damage purposes with your dieties' Favored Weapon if it is higher than your Strength bonus. This benefit only applies if your Favored Soul level is equal to or greater than half of your total Heroic Character level.
Knowledge of Battle (http://ddowiki.com/edit/Knowledge_of_Battle?redlink=1): Your faith allows you to use your Wisdom bonus for to-hit and damage purposes with your dieties' Favored Weapon if it is higher than your Strength bonus. This benefit only applies if your Favored Soul level is equal to or greater than half of your total Heroic Character level.


Favored Souls now select one of the following Feats at class level 7:

Stout of Heart (http://ddowiki.com/page/Stout_of_Heart): You gain 10 Hit Points per Favored Soul or Epic level.
Purity of Heart (http://ddowiki.com/page/Purity_of_Heart): You gain 20 Spell Points per Favored Soul level, and 30 Spell Points per Epic level.


Changed the name of the Favored Soul (http://ddowiki.com/page/Favored_Soul) Warpriest enhancement tree to War Soul (http://ddowiki.com/page/War_Soul_enhancements).
A multiselector has been added to War Soul's Divine Might:

Divine Might: You gain an Insight bonus to Strength equal to your Charisma Modifier.
Divine Presence: Adds one half of Charisma modifier to melee damage and tactical DC's.
Divine Will: Adds one half of Wisdom modifier to melee damage and tactical DC's



The use of CHA or WIS for your Favored Weapon stat + Divine Presence / Will opens up some caster / melee (or ranged in case of Silver Flame) hybrid options. But the lack of DPS improvements to War Soul means you either need to multiclass, make a racial AA (https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/490165-FvS-Multiclass?p=6031571&viewfull=1#post6031571), or take advantage of Blood of Vol + Vistani Knife Fighter (http://ddowiki.com/page/Vistani_Knife_Fighter_enhancements) synergies if you want decent melee / ranged DPS.

[bruzer79]

I think I'd prefer caster. Thank you guys for the information. I'll keep digging for a build of some sort.

[C-Dog]

All the past life stuff is super confusing to me right now, and not really applicable. Im starting over ...
If you have anything near Level 20, just accept that past-life is the way to go. Finish to 20, TR and enjoy a stronger character because of it. Plus it lets you play while giving you time to plan your build, and you can farm a few pieces of key gear for the next life.


(In short, 2 options for past life @ level 20 - old Heroic TR (which gives past life Class feats), and new Racial TR, which really needs 2-3 Racial TR's to feel a benefit, which is a +1 to a stat and +1 free racial Action Point. Both work the same, just diff options. The Class Feats are nice, but the Racial benefits, once you have more than a few of them, really start to add up. Both will give you 34 then 36 build points to start subsequent lives.

o http://ddowiki.com/page/Heroic_True_Reincarnation
oo http://ddowiki.com/page/Past_Life_Feats#Free_feats

o http://ddowiki.com/page/Racial_Reincarnation

[Chuck_Roast]

Since you are only asking about heroics (1-20), you could use The Angel of Amaunator (https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/469479-The-Angel-of-Amaunator).

It has both a FvS 18/Clr 1/Wiz 1 and pure FvS option. Sun Elf is not really required, but of course you'll need to tweak things a bit for another race, with the usual pros/cons/tradeoffs. Spell focus on either Evocation or Necromancy (human can do both easily).

Example: I ran this recently as a standard Elf evoker using the 18/1/1 version. I traded the Sun Elf's racial spell power dps for defensive boost via dragonmark. I didn't need displacement clickies, and most of the loot available now (even random gen) makes dcs/spell pen/spell power at least workable for most of the (older) heroics. As noted above, newer and top-tier content may take some effort to boost dcs/spell pen/spell power, depending on what you want your FvS to be able to do.

I'm not good at posting builds, so I'll keep it simple - I leveled 1-12 FvS, took cleric at 13, wizard at 14, and finished out FvS.

Stats/skills/feats mostly the same, with just a couple of changes to feats:


WIS based FvS, Aureon
L1: Empower
L2: Knowledge of Battle
L3: Maximize
L6: Quicken
L7: Stout of Heart
L9: Dragonmark of Shadow
L12: SF Evocation
L14: Heighten (Wizard Bonus Feat)
L15: GSF Evocation
L18: Spell Pen


APs were the same:


17 Elf - Accuracy; Dragonmark to Tier 3; Arcane Fluidity; Arcanum
4 Divine Disciple - Emissary: Light; Spell Power: Light
13 War Soul - Smite Foe; Resilience; Sanctuary; Divine Will (low level melee, rare after mid levels); Toughness; Wall of Steel
46 AoV

Progression: I started with APs in War Soul at lower levels, then AoV until I got the dragonmark. From there I spent APs mostly in Elf (except level 13 when I put the 4 APs in Divine Disciple) until I'd acquired enough APs for displacement.

Is it the best option? Nah. But it was fun, and I could both solo and pug heroic elites and low skull reapers, even on 1st life. Atremus's build is a bit outdated (granted, it is from 2015), but it's still a good base to work from with a few adjustments. And whatever the race, that's 17 AP to play with, so tailor to taste.

Good luck, and welcome back!

[Zachski]

I've been wanting to make a Favored Soul myself for a long time but it seems like by the time I actually got it, it ended up becoming a useless class shortly afterwards.

Now that the update has made FVS *much* less MAD, I'm happy and I'm definitely gonna give it a try as a CHA-Based Dragonborn.

Is Aureon still the best choice for a caster, though, even though its ability bonus is for Wisdom? I don't really like any of the other options that much, but I want to ask with enough time to start over if it's not.

Also I'm going pure because I still hate multiclassing.

[bruzer79]

Since you are only asking about heroics (1-20), you could use The Angel of Amaunator (https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/469479-The-Angel-of-Amaunator).

It has both a FvS 18/Clr 1/Wiz 1 and pure FvS option. Sun Elf is not really required, but of course you'll need to tweak things a bit for another race, with the usual pros/cons/tradeoffs. Spell focus on either Evocation or Necromancy (human can do both easily).

Example: I ran this recently as a standard Elf evoker using the 18/1/1 version. I traded the Sun Elf's racial spell power dps for defensive boost via dragonmark. I didn't need displacement clickies, and most of the loot available now (even random gen) makes dcs/spell pen/spell power at least workable for most of the (older) heroics. As noted above, newer and top-tier content may take some effort to boost dcs/spell pen/spell power, depending on what you want your FvS to be able to do.

I'm not good at posting builds, so I'll keep it simple - I leveled 1-12 FvS, took cleric at 13, wizard at 14, and finished out FvS.

Stats/skills/feats mostly the same, with just a couple of changes to feats:


WIS based FvS, Aureon
L1: Empower
L2: Knowledge of Battle
L3: Maximize
L6: Quicken
L7: Stout of Heart
L9: Dragonmark of Shadow
L12: SF Evocation
L14: Heighten (Wizard Bonus Feat)
L15: GSF Evocation
L18: Spell Pen


APs were the same:


17 Elf - Accuracy; Dragonmark to Tier 3; Arcane Fluidity; Arcanum
4 Divine Disciple - Emissary: Light; Spell Power: Light
13 War Soul - Smite Foe; Resilience; Sanctuary; Divine Will (low level melee, rare after mid levels); Toughness; Wall of Steel
46 AoV

Progression: I started with APs in War Soul at lower levels, then AoV until I got the dragonmark. From there I spent APs mostly in Elf (except level 13 when I put the 4 APs in Divine Disciple) until I'd acquired enough APs for displacement.

Is it the best option? Nah. But it was fun, and I could both solo and pug heroic elites and low skull reapers, even on 1st life. Atremus's build is a bit outdated (granted, it is from 2015), but it's still a good base to work from with a few adjustments. And whatever the race, that's 17 AP to play with, so tailor to taste.

Good luck, and welcome back!

Chuck_Roast - A million thank yous for this.

[Chuck_Roast]

Chuck_Roast - A million thank yous for this.

You're welcome. :)




Is Aureon still the best choice for a caster, though, even though its ability bonus is for Wisdom? I don't really like any of the other options that much, but I want to ask with enough time to start over if it's not.




I personally wouldn't go with Aureon on a CHA-based FvS - it would put me right back in the "2 stats for casting" boat. Even though some of the divine EDs *do* use WIS, I'd go with some other faith. For a CHA-based Dragonborn pure FvS caster, and looking at the bonus feats, I'd probably pick either Sovereign Host, Olladra, or Blood of Vol.